Juliana Acosta is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program and a member of the Child and Family Well-being clinic and lab at Florida International University. Juliana completed her Bachelor of Science (B.S) in Psychology with a minor in Behavioral Neuroscience at Nova Southeastern University in 2012. Juliana then attained her Master's Degree (M.S.) in Experimental Psychology at same university in 2014. Since then, Juliana has worked with children and adolescents with mental health difficulties in the context of outpatient community clinics and schools.

Juliana is broadly interested in the role of family functioning in child development in the context of risk factors. She is primarily interested in the role of parenting in the development and prevention of early child psychopathology.

Acosta, J., Garcia, D., Bagner, D. M. (2017). Parent-child interaction therapy with children with and at-risk for developmental delay: The role of sleep problems. Presented at the Miami International Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference, Miami, FL.

Acosta J. (2014). Auditory but not visual ERP distinguish bilinguals from monolinguals on a non-linguistic No/No-Go task. Presented at the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Atlanta, GA.

Chelsea Dale, BA

Education

BA, Psychology, Colgate University, 2015

Chelsea Dale is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science Ph.D. program and a member of the Child and Family Well-being Lab (CFW) at Florida International University. Chelsea completed her Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Psychology at Colgate University. Prior to FIU, she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP) at Massachusetts General Hospital and as a Research Assistant under David Langer, Ph.D. at Boston University Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (BU CARD).

Chelsea’s research interests are broadly in parenting training/intervention for families, as the mechanisms of change in behavioral parent training.

Karissa DiMarzio, BA

Education

BA, Psychology, Emmanuel College, 2014

Karissa DiMarzio is a second-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science Ph.D. program and a member of the Child and Family Well-being Lab (CFW) at Florida International University. After completing her undergraduate career at Emmanuel College, Karissa spent four years working as a Project Coordinator at the Disparities Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Karissa is interested in studying the mechanisms underlying the development of youth psychopathology, particularly the role of maladaptive coping mechanisms and perceptions, and how early adversity influences these processes.

Education

Megan Koolmeyer

Research Interests

Megan wants to become a nurse practitioner who specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry. She enjoys seeking to better understand the physical, mental, and social aspects of mental health problems and would love to be part of the solution.

Education

Artiani Pena

Research Interests

Artiani's ultimate goal is to become a Pediatric Psychologist. She will graduate in the Fall of 2019 and will be applying to Psy.D Programs and Ph.D. Programs. She got involved with the CFW lab to gain both clinical and research experience which will help her decide whether she will apply to programs that are research or clinically focused.

Education

Prospective Lab Members

Interested in joining the CFW Lab? There are opportunities to participate in our work at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. Students in the CFW Lab have a variety of interests relating to child and family well-being.

If interested in volunteering as a research assistant, please complete our Application Form. We require a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 (though exceptions are sometimes made). We typically admit students who plan to attend graduate school in clinical or developmental psychology. Research assistants should be able to devote at least 8-10 hours per week for two consecutive semesters. Students interested in completing the McNair Scholars Program or an honors thesis should participate in the lab for at least one year before beginning these projects. For any questions, email cfw@fiu.edu.

There are currently no available paid post-baccalaureate positions open at the CFW, but we will update this website if a place becomes available. For those interested in volunteering, see the instructions in the undergraduate research assistant section - Application Form.

Dr. Parent will be recruiting a doctoral student for the CFW lab for this next application cycle (2019-2020). If interested in applying, email your CV to Dr. Parent at jparent@fiu.edu. Visit the FIU Clinical Science Child and Adolescent Psychology PhD Program to learn more about our program and the Psychology Admissions for details on how to apply. Dr. Parent is interested in accepting a student interested in any of the three primary research topics. Dr. Parent looks for applicants with at least a 3.5 GPA, two years or more of research experience at the undergraduate or post-baccalaureate levels, at least one 1st author conference presentation, at least one 1st author or coauthored peer-reviewed manuscript, and persuasive letters of recommendation.

There are currently no available paid post-bac positions open at the CFW, but we will update this website if a place becomes available.